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Comment by nothrabannosir | Hacker News Reader

> ... maintaining speed ...

Sorry I know this is not the point of your comment, but I couldn't let this go: the Monzo app is by far the slowest app on my phone. Until their more recent updates it was nearly unusable on an iPhone SE. Still has >1sec response times on almost any touch event. (comments on the forum suggest this is because they use O(N) algorithms somewhere, and after 2y worth of events the app slows to a crawl. doesn't inspire confidence, to be honest.)

To the point that I focus on putting as many spends as possible on another card that has a better app, just so I can avoid spending any time in Monzo.

To end on a positive note: their support is so much better than the competition it isn't even funny. Apparently they are the only bank with a "brain required" policy for CS.

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We're definitely aware of the iOS performance issues and we're working to fix them. We're frustrated by it too.

Apparently their Android app has better performance and they're working to fix this on iOS:

https://monzo.com/blog/2018/09/18/ios-app-performance/

I just loaded up the android app for the first time after booting. 5 seconds before I could see balance, another 15 seconds before the graph loaded. It used to be fast, but I hardly use it any more because it's slow to check my balance.

I am on Android, and for me it used to be slow, but recently has become very fast again. I just opened the app and it took <=1 second to get to see my balance. I am on a very new phone though (oneplus6), and I don't know enough about how different hardware affects speed.

That said, since I changed some settings to reduce battery/data usage, the notifications for spending often don't turn up for several minutes, where they used to be instant (before being able to put my card back into my wallet).

1sec response times on almost any touch event. (comments on the forum suggest this is because they use O(N) algorithms somewhere, and after 2y worth of events the app slows to a crawl. doesn't inspire confidence, to be honest.)

This is not my experience on a few different iOS devices over the years - things respond pretty much instantly (iPhone 6 and 8), never seen 1 second waits. There's something wrong with it on your phone (not sure what, and that is an old model), but that is not the experience on a newer phone. I have a few years of transactions in there, was an early user so it's not that either. Perhaps SE particularly suffers though and it's just masked because I have a faster device.

I do hope their friendly support can cope with their growth, I agree it's one of the best bits of the customer experience.

If you're looking for customer support, I really recommend First Direct, their phone support is completely unreal, 1 ring and you're through to someone that can service any banking need you might have with them, no transfers, no waiting, no fiddly security it works really well!

Their app has come a long way recently too.

I have first direct as well, and it’s a joke. They are stuck in the last century. My 1Password entry for them holds eight security codes for different occasions (phone, bank, “code signing”, whatever weird jargon they came up with now). Who is their target audience , Kim Peek?

They treat me with the same disdain on the phone that any other bank does , for example when they contradict themselves but blame me for it.

Everything is great until you go off script, and the mask falls. Not so with Monzo. At all.

If you want to be treated like a human being by a UK bank, Monzo is your only choice.

Or get rich, I’ve heard that helps. I’m trying that one, and will keep you posted. ;)

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